Carol and everyone,
I have a sheep chair from Premier, which originally came with the netting
hammock-type seat. This was very hazardous, because sheep were always
sticking their feet into the netting and getting hopelessly tangled as I
tried to position them into the chair for foot trimming. But I got a
replacement canvas seat from Midstates Livestock Supply which works much
better than the netting, since it is solid fabric. But the sheep chair
itself is kind of dangerous, no matter what kind of set is used. This is
because a sheep that gets his/her leg caught in one of the holes near the
aluminum framework, can break a leg as the sheep is being flipped over on
its back. It would be a nasty break, as the entire sheep is being rotated
to sit it back into the chair. I have come close a couple of times.
Additionally, the act of flipping a sheep over on the ground and setting
him on his rear end to trim feet can be a one-person job. But I have found
that the same act of flipping a sheep into the sheep chair always becomes a
two-person job, because of the above cautions. So between the two options,
I think setting him up on the ground is much simpler and safer. So I don't
use my sheep chair much anymore.
But I'm getting old and arthritic, and am tired of flipping sheep on their
rears and bending over for hours to trim feet, etc. The DS Livestock Chute
that was demonstrated at the Annual Meeting last year was truly
wonderful. We simply marched a sheep up the ramp to the platform, put his
head in the head gate, and worked on his feet from a comfortable standing
position. When we were done with him, we just opened the front gate (head
gate) and he exited by jumping down off the platform. As I recall, the
floor of the platform was about 28 - 30 inches off the ground -- just right
for easy handling. But I also agree that it is a pretty big financial
investment for a small farmer to make, for one piece of welded metal.
It has occurred to me that if I were a welder, I could make my own
livestock chute, similar to the DS chute. A friend suggested that I could
build a livestock chute with a ramp, platform, and head gate from treated
wood, which would be just about as good. I'm thinking of trying it. I
have built several homemade things for my livestock, which have turned out
pretty well. In fact, I was just getting ready to design a wooden model
using pictures of the metal version. I'll let everyone know if it turns
out OK.
Mary Swindell
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